Randy Gregory sues NFL, Broncos over $500K fines for THC use

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Randy Gregory is suing the NFL and the Broncos claiming discrimination over being fined $532,500 for taking remedy containing THC for disabilities throughout his temporary time in Denver.

Within the grievance filed this week in Arapahoe County District Court docket, the 31-year-old pass-rusher who now performs for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers mentioned he was prescribed Dronabinol for social anxiousness and post-traumatic stress problems however was denied lodging to deal with these disabilities with that drugs.

The NFL and the Broncos each declined to touch upon Gregory’s lawsuit when reached by The Related Press on Friday.

The NFL now not suspends gamers who take a look at optimistic for THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, the chemical chargeable for most of marijuana’s psychological results, however it stays among the many league’s banned substances topic to fines.

The Broncos are named within the lawsuit, though groups have no position within the fining of gamers who violate the league’s drug insurance policies. The NFL-NFLPA substances of abuse coverage is collectively bargained and administered by a collectively appointed third-party medical skilled.

The grievance mentioned Gregory was identified with social anxiousness dysfunction in 2021 and with post-traumatic stress dysfunction in February 2023.

The Broncos and the NFL denied Gregory’s request in March 2023 to make use of Dronabinol throughout non-work hours, in response to the grievance. Two months later, his agent, Peter Schaffer, requested a therapeutic use exemption for Gregory, which additionally was denied.

Gregory has been fined $532,500 for repeated optimistic THC assessments since March 2023, in response to the grievance. The lawsuit contends that the league’s and membership’s resistance to offering Gregory lodging on account of his disabilities is discriminatory beneath Colorado regulation.

Gregory was a second-round draft decide of the Cowboys in 2015. He performed 5 seasons with Dallas, the place he was suspended quite a few occasions for violating the NFL’s drug insurance policies. He signed with Denver in 2022 however missed most of that season with a knee harm. He cut up the 2023 season between the Broncos and San Francisco 49ers, who acquired him in a commerce final October.

Gregory, who has collected 22 profession sacks and appeared in 72 video games over seven NFL seasons, signed a one-year cope with the Buccaneers this spring.